Can you make too many payments too a card?

[Joecooltech]

So I asked the question the other day if you can run too much through a credit card.? And the consensus seems to be as long as it’s within my income I was fine. The next question I have that would be secondary to that is is there an algorithm For too many payments. I have this incessant habit of paying things off soon as they post where I might let them sit for a day or two but not much longer than that. Example would be since opening a new card in September and have a made every day it is there a negative to this ?

[Anonymous]

Some banks, yes.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Such-thing-as-TOO-MANY-payments/m-p/4799180#M1397300

Some banks limit you the first month (Amex) others limit you to a certain number a month.

[UpperNwGuy]

Yes, you can spook the bank by making a lot of payments each month.  Try to limit yourself to 2 or at most 3 payments a month.

[kdm31091]

It is IMO overkill to be paying every single charge as it posts. You won't do anything good with that, and may set off a flag with certain lenders.

If you want a zero balance reporting, just PIF before the statement cuts. No need to pay everything as you go along. I would cut back to at least biweekly.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, someone I know who works as an underwriter said that their (tiny local) bank considers a person who pays things off every few days as "not a responsible user of credit".

Their reasoning is that a person who can manage balances and payment schedules, etc is more responsible to them than someone who is scared and pays constantly.  It's a "lol" situation but this is a tiny community bank, not a huge one.

[HeavenOhio]

I suppose it depends on the bank. AMEX will let you make five payments in a day, so I doubt that they're among the banks that have an opinion on the matter. Based on posts here, I think you're more likely to be under the radar if you're revolving balances or paying down a balance transfer.

I think the best thing is to do what makes sense to you rather break your brains trying to figure out what a bank might think. If your balance has reached a point where a payment seems to be in order, make a payment. If you're giving the card an occasional swipe to keep it active, pay it off when the charge posts. If a statement cuts with a balance, PIF anytime before the due date and maybe include recently posted transactions along with that payment.

The bottom line is that it seems silly to constantly make payments unless circumstances dictate doing that. On the other hand, it seems equally silly not to make a payment when you feel that you're ready to do so.

[Anonymous]

I wish we had a master thread on any lenders who let you overpay and let you "extend" your limit that way.  I don't even know if this is a thing anymore or maybe if it's been regulated out of existence.  I know back in the 90s this was common -- I would write a check to Amex for $5000 against my $2500 limit (or whatever it was) and back then they let me use the full $7500 because of my negative balance.  Same was true with some other lenders, I can't even remember who I used back then, though.  I think US Bank back in the 90s allowed it but not 100%.

For me, that was a super easy way to manage my balances -- I never let my balance go "positive", I always just used my "credit" portion.

Haven't tried that today, though, because if I run a credit on Capital One, they mail me a check monthly, ugh.  Will try with Chase in 2018 somehow.

[CreditCuriosity]

Honestly I don't think it matters.. I don't pay off my balacne everytime it posts, but I treat my CC's like a debit card and have no issue doing say 5 payments a month on Amex/Chase.  This has been discussed beyond belief here and people will have their feelings and you won't be able to change them regardless as I have me feeling it doesn't matter and I have pretty much every big lender and never had a issue.  If I see a decent size balance say > 150 on a given card I will just hit pay and move on and have no issues with getting new cards with said bank or CLI's etc.  

Long story short do what you want as people will argue both ways on this subject.  I am just a bit OCD myself since messing up my credit in the past and prefer to stay on top of it and keep my own self honest by paying frequently not allowing myself to overspend.  Thank is just how "I" prefer to do things.  Suppose I could be making a few dollars on some interest if I used the grace period fully, but whatever.

[HeavenOhio]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I wish we had a master thread on any lenders who let you overpay and let you "extend" your limit that way.

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I almost had a chance to test that with AMEX recently. I paid my current balance plus the one pending charge. But the pending posted at the same time the payment did. It would have been interesting to see what my available credit would have been had the pending charge waited a day to post.

I think what's more likely to happen is that one's available credit will behave the same way whether one's current balance is positive or negative. Pending charges will still be deducted from one's available credit until they post. However, once charges post, available credit will be restored as usual. You wouldn't necessarily be extending your limit by paying in advance. But you'd be eliminating processing time in getting your limit back.

[Anonymous]

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

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I think what's more likely to happen is that one's available credit will behave the same way whether one's current balance is positive or negative. Pending charges will still be deducted from one's available credit until they post. However, once charges post, available credit will be restored as usual. You wouldn't necessarily be extending your limit by paying in advance. But you'd be eliminating processing time in getting your limit back.

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Most likely true and that's what I assumed.

It has literally been 20 years since I really had prime credit cards so I'm still learning all of the new things floating around.

I did notice on my US Bank card (got it in October) that when it wouldn't show my limit on the website (I believe they fixed that), if I had a credit balance it showed my available credit as just the credit balance.

I should push a payment to them tomorrow ($0 balance now) to see if the available credit figure goes up from $500 (or down from $500 because of a website glitch).